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Amber Heard says watching people mock her testimony and threaten to kill her has been 'agonizing'

May 26, 2022, 23:19 IST
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US actor Amber Heard testifies during the 50 million US dollar Depp vs Heard defamation trial at the Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Virginia, on May 26, 2022. - Actor Johnny Depp is suing ex-wife Amber Heard for libel after she wrote an op-ed piece in The Washington Post in 2018 referring to herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse.MICHAEL REYNOLDS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
  • Amber Heard took the stand again in Johnny Depp's trial against her.
  • She testified about the "trauma" of the trial over her abuse claims against Depp.
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Amber Heard returned to the witness stand on Thursday, testifying about the toll the "humiliation" and "trauma" that she alleges her ex-husband Johnny Depp has inflicted on her life, saying it has been magnified by the ongoing defamation case he brought against her.

"The harassment, the humiliation, the campaign against me that's echoed every single day on social media and now in cameras in this room," Heard said. "Every single day, I have to relive the trauma. My hands shake. I scream when I wake up."

Heard, in tears, said she has received hundreds of death threats, if not thousands, every day since the trial began, including threats to her child. She drew a direct line between the threats and Depp's promise to "make me think of him every single day that I live."

"People want to kill me and they tell me so, every day," she said. "People want to put my baby in the microwave. They tell me that."

She also appeared to address some of the viral videos of people mocking her testimony. One meme that has spread on TikTok features users lip-syncing along to her graphic description of Depp tearing off her clothes before sexually assaulting her. Another features audio where she describes Depp kicking her to the floor. Heard testified that Depp repeatedly physically abused her before and during their marriage, which ended in 2016.

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"It's been agonizing. Agonizing, painful. The most humiliating thing anyone has ever gone through," she said.

'Johnny has taken enough of my voice'

Depp sued Heard in 2019, alleging she defamed him by describing herself in a December 2018 Washington Post op-ed as a victim of domestic violence. He also alleged that Heard physically and verbally abused him throughout their relationship rather than the other way around.

Heard has denied the claims and filed a countersuit laying out the numerous instances of alleged physical abuse. Her return to the stand in the Fairfax County, Virginia courthouse on Thursday is part of the counter-rebuttal for the sprawling trial, which is scheduled to reach closing arguments tomorrow.

In his own final testimony for the case, on Wednesday, Depp maintained that Heard fabricated her assault allegations and said her accusations were "ludicrous."

"No human being is perfect, certainly none of us," Depp said. "But I have never in my life committed sexual battery, physical abuse."

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Actor Amber Heard testifies near Actor Johnny Depp during the Depp vs Heard defamation trial at the Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Virginia, U.S. May 26, 2022.Michael Reynolds/Pool via REUTERS

Heard testified that the trauma from her experience with Depp has reshaped her life, requiring friends and doctors to follow certain protocols to make sure she isn't triggered by touching or surprises. While filming combat scenes for the "Aquaman" movies, she said, she has to worry about flashes of her experiences with Depp entering her mind.

Her hope at the close of the trial, she said, was that Depp will leave her alone once and for all.

"Johnny has taken enough of my voice," she said. "I have the right to my voice and to tell my story."

"Johnny promised me he would ruin me. That he would ruin my career, he'd take my life from me, death was the only way out," Heard said later in her Thursday testimony. "And if I got out of this, what he'd do to me — he'd make me think of him every single day. He'd promise me global humiliation"

In cross-examination with Depp's lawyer Camille Vasquez, Heard discounted testimony from some of the more recent witnesses who testified in the case, including a campground manager who said he believed Heard, not Depp, was more aggressive during a dispute around a decade ago.

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"I've seen a lot of people come out of the woodwork to become part of the Johnny Depp show," Heard said.

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